South Korea, Japan Think Global Warming Is A Serious Problem


In the latest edition of the Pew Global Attitudes Survey, which states that Brazil and Argentina are the countries in which people are most aware of global warming as a threat, South Korea and Japan also score very high.

The survey was carried out in 25 countries, including the United States and China. When asked the question, "Is global warming a serious problem?" 90% of Brazilians and 69% of Argentineans said yes, while only 44% of Americans or Russians chose the affirmative answer.

More on the survey (from page 87):
Pew Global Attitudes Survey (PDF)

Are Japanese people less concerned about climate change, at least compared to 2007, when 78% worried about global warming?

There is a lot more to ponder: In this survey, 64% of the Japanese agreed with the statement, "Protect environment even if it slows growth and costs jobs."

68% would "Pay higher prices to address global climate change" in Japan, compared to 41% in the US and 53% in the UK and 54% in Germany.

I wish they would include at least one Scandinavian country in their survey.

For this study, they called 700 households in Japan, from May 20-June 10, 2009.

Comments

Martin J Frid said…
Getting the industrial sector to reduce emissions seems to be the key. As for individual emissions, we are doing ok in Japan and Scandinavia, and a few other countries.

No wonder media in the rest of the world is taking the opposite route, supported by the very companies that profit from more emissions, in the short term.
1:25 am, August 14, 2009
Mary Witzl said…
This cheers me up no end -- knowing that so many people ARE aware of the need to reduce emissions, and that Japan is so high up in awareness, which I'd always suspected. What a shame that America is so low down on the list. I can understand why other countries might score low, but we really have no excuse.
5:50 pm, August 26, 2009
Martin J Frid said…
Thanks Mary, you are right I think.

By the way, reading your blog always cheers me up too (I loved the post about Bill Bryson, one of my favourite authors and your belly laughter on the train)!
11:53 am, August 27, 2009
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